Energy Efficiency Transitions in China: How Persistent are the Movements to/from the Frontier?

Lin Zhang and Philip Kofi Adom

The Energy Journal, 2018, vol. 39, issue 6, 147-170

Abstract: This study examines the energy efficiency transitions in China using provincial data covering the period 2003-2015. Sustainable progress in energy efficiency achievement is beneficial to energy security and the achievement of the Paris Agreement. This article combines the stochastic frontier method with the panel Markov-switching regression to model energy efficiency transitions. The estimated energy efficiency scores show significant regional and provincial heterogeneity. Also, while human capital development, urbanization, and foreign direct investment promote energy efficiency, price and income per capita reduce it. The transition probabilities indicate that the high energy-efficient state is less sustainable, and the movement towards the frontier seems less persistent than movement from the frontier. Thus, it appears that China is not making sustainable progress in energy efficiency. The unsustainable nature of the high energy-efficient state suggests that in China, there areweak energy efficiency efforts and energy efficiency policies lack robustness.

Keywords: Energy efficiency transitions; Panel Markov; Stochastic frontier; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Energy Efficiency Transitions in China: How Persistent are the Movements to/from the Frontier? (2018)
Working Paper: Energy Efficiency Transitions in China: How persistent are the movements to/from the frontier? (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:enejou:v:39:y:2018:i:6:p:147-170

DOI: 10.5547/01956574.39.6.lzha

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